The Beginning of Hate
by floating-in-fantasy
Summary: . . . and that is when Severus knew he'd hate them forever. . ." Not a slash fic. Explanation fic for my story The Other Potter: The Story of Harmony Dawne. DISCLAIMER: I'm not J.K. Rowling. Although I wish I was.
1. Seeing

This is another explanation fic. This kind of explains Snape's feelings toward Harry and Harmony in chapters 10 and 12. I believe there will be two chapters to this, but if there ends up being more I'll let you know.

**Seeing**

Severus Snape was sitting at the staff table at the beginning of the feast as he did every year. In a few moments the first years would walk through the doors and be sorted into their houses. He would of course mark in his mind every new Slytherin's name so he could find out more about them. So he was not the most liked person in Hogwarts, but he was, in fact, an amazing Head of House.

The doors at the end of the hall opened and all the first years filed in. Snape watched as their little nervous faces approached the High Table, then they stopped and lined up in a neat line facing the students.

Immediately Severus picked out the white blonde hair of his godson, Draco Malfoy. He scanned the row of first years in front of him and there in the middle was the black hair he had been warned he'd see, James Potter's son, Harry. _'Of course Lily's genes were overrun by that pompous, foul . . . well in any case . . . no doubt he'll be just as arrogant and awful as his father._' Snape thought. '_But wait, where is his sister?'_

Snape scanned the line of first years harder now for the same jet-black hair. He didn't find it. He shrugged it off as if he didn't really care, but his eyes kept wandering over the first years. _'Stop it, Severus!'_ he chastised himself. _'You'll see her eventually anyway. She has to be Sorted and Dumbledore told you she would be here. So quit acting like a nervous school boy!'_

The names started getting called. A new Hufflepuff, a new Gryffindor, a new Ravenclaw, then as expected Draco was sorted into Slytherin. No Potter, not yet anyway. As the Sorting went on Snape began to feel more anxious, every name called seemed to push him forward in his seat. _'What if something went wrong? What if she's not here . . . Why are you so worried about this Severus?'_ He already knew that answer, though he thought that Potter's genes had dominated Lily's he still hoped that maybe by chance that was the case only with one child.

"Potter, Harry!" Snape looked down and saw the black haired boy be Sorted into Gryffindor. _'Figures—just like his father.'_ Severus failed to mention to himself that Gryffindor had also been where Lily was put, but he disregarded that fact due to the way Harry looked.

"Potter, Harmony!" Severus sat stunned. Instead of a black haired girl there was a girl with reddish-golden hair. She was an almost exact replica of Lily from the back. Severus felt his heart leap involuntarily, which House would she be put into? He hoped against hope that she would turn out to be a Slytherin.

"Sly—" He heard the Sorting hat say and he sat up a little straighter, ready to receive Lily's child to Slytherin, but then . . . "Gryffindor!" _'What?'_ Severus thought alarmed. _'It said Slytherin—I heard it say Slytherin, or start to anyway.' _Then he realized the obvious, something must have happened to change the Sorting hat's mind.

He watched in a little disgust as the little girl went running over to the Gryffindor table and sat right next to her brother. Then he saw it, her eyes were all wrong. They were hazel, not green. Severus felt something harden in him, the way it did whenever Potter's memory crossed his mind. Suddenly Severus hated the girl, it was a sin to have that arrogant toe rag's eyes on Lily's perfect face.

He watched the girl for a while and saw that almost every gesture she made was somewhat what Lily used to do. _'Maybe I can forget the eyes. She does seem a lot like Lily.'_ He thought, but as soon as he looked back and saw her eyes he knew he couldn't, at least not very easily. Then Quirrell engaged him in a conversation and he forgot the Potters for the moment.

Snape felt eyes on him and he looked past Quirrell to check on the Potter girl and saw her looking at him as well. He saw a slight look of pain cross her face then she bit her lip. _'What was that?'_ Snape asked himself. She still had her eyes locked on him then saw a questioning look in her eyes and then she turned to talk to the prefect Weasley boy.

Snape knew what she saw. He had let his emotions come through for one split second and the girl had read them. She must have seen his hostility toward Potter and his hope that she might be like Lily. He could feel her eyes stay on him as he turned back to Quirrell.

He looked at her one time that luckily she didn't see. He saw her run her hand though her hair, and that did it. It was something Potter had done often. Now he felt the hardening sensation. He was liking Lily's child less and less because of how much Potter leaked from her. He turned back to Quirrell once more.

'_What color of eyes did the boy have?'_ Severus thought to himself, then he realized he didn't know and he was curious. He looked toward the Gryffindor table once again. He saw green eyes staring back at him from his enemy's face. _'No he does not have Lily's eyes! He cannot!' _

He watched the boy clap his hand to head when their eyes met. He watched the twins begin to converse. Then he turned back to Quirrell and promised himself that he would not look back.


	2. Hate and Revenge

Okay so I finished it all in one day and I extremely proud of myself for doing so. Here's the second part also the end so . . . **REVIEW! PLEASE**!

**Hate and Revenge**

Severus Snape watched as the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins filed through the dungeon doors. His godson saw him and nodded, Snape nodded back, it was the way that they greeted each other at school.

He picked out the Potter twins; they were always with each other. Though they didn't sit together. The boy sat with the newest Weasley and the girl sat with one of the other Gryffindors, but they were across the aisle from each other. Snape began calling role; he couldn't resist making a little fun of the Potters when he got to their names.

"Ah, yes," he said softly, " The Potters. Our new – celebrities."

He heard his godson and his friends start to snigger. He saw the Potter girl look over with a look of pure loathing on her face. Snape smirked, his plan had worked well. He finished calling the names and then went into his normal lecture.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses . . . . I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Snape saw a wild look of longing in the girl's eyes, the boy looked at the new Weasley and raised his eyebrows.

"Potter!" shouted Snape suddenly; he had decided he was going to make the boy's life miserable at the moment. He saw both twins look at him, then he clarified. "Mr. Potter. What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

The boy looked blank, his sister watched him apprehensively.

"I don't know, sir," the boy answered.

Snape smirked. He watched the girl's eyes fill with loathing, toward him for picking on her brother.

"Tut, tut – fame clearly isn't everything." He said and he ignored the Granger girl's raised hand and prepared himself to humiliate Potter more.

"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

His godson and his friends were laughing in the open now. He watched as the Potter girl turned again, she looked ready to cast Avada Kedavra and murder them right there. She turned back to her brother.

"I don't know, sir." The boy answered again.

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Snape could see that the taunting was bugging the girl. He watched as she set her face and locked her eyes on him waiting for what he would throw at her brother next.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" He only asked this question to see what the girl would do. It was more fun to watch her reactions than the boy's, anyway.

"I don't know." The boy answered once again.

Snape smirked even more and looked at the boy in triumph. He glanced at the girl out of the corner of his eye, she looked as though she could murder him. Snape decided it was her turn to answer.

"Well, well, well. One of the Potters' brains is filled with air, let's test the other." Snape turned on her. Her eyes were lit with a kind of mocking fire and she sat up a little straighter.

"Question one, in case you weren't listening," Snape said with a smirk. " What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

He had her now. She was about to go down just like her brother, but then something happened that caught Snape off guard.

"A powerful sleeping potion known as the Draught of Living Death, sir." she answered, a small smirk beginning to break out on her face.

Snape felt his smirk disappear and answered simply.

"Beginners luck. Let's try again." He said. " Where would you look to find a bezoar?"

He didn't even have time to smirk this time, she answered immediately.

"The stomach of a goat, sir." she answered.

Again he was taken aback, she was just like Lily, but the edge to her voice reeked of Potter. He had to admit he was stunned by her knowledge, but he covered almost immediately after the astonishment had leaked out.

"Well I see you may have read a little more than your dunce of a brother. Third question: What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Snape asked smirking.

"There is no difference, sir," she began a smirk fully on her face her eyes lowered to the table. " They are the same plant and it is also known as aconite."

Snape had to admit she was pushing his buttons. His fury as her eyes lifted and she folded her arms across her chest, waiting for his approval with the most arrogant confident look in her eyes was overwhelming. She was nothing like her mother, no, Potter's genes dominated her personality.

He turned to the whole class to occupy his mind from hexes he'd like to use on her to wipe the smirk off her face.

"Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"

He gave them all their instructions and sent them to work in pairs on the potion that cured boils. Snape walked around watching and criticizing the poor way they all did their potions except Draco of course, who he had tutored all summer. He was just pointing out to everyone the perfect way Draco had stewed his horned slugs, when suddenly clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. The Longbottom boy had somehow managed to melt his partner's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Longbottom, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

A stupid mistake, if he would have read the directions then . . . the Potter girl was at the table diagonal to where Longbottom was, and she was looking pretty angry at him for calling the boy an idiot.

"Take him up to the hospital wing," he told the boy's partner. Then he took his revenge. "You – Potter—if you're so smart, why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? One point from Gryffindor for your pride."

Then he decided to take his vengeance on the other Potter who'd been sitting in front of him just for good measure.

"Thought the same did you, Potter? That's another point from Gryffindor." In Severus's opinion revenge had never felt so sweet.

He watched the Potter girl and boy hold themselves back from giving him any more reasons to take points. He had decided that there was no Lily in the girl only a slightly twisted version of Potter and the boy was his father's exact replica.

As he watched the students file out, he focused on the Potters. The girl seemed to be on fire with rage and the boy only curious. As the door shut behind them Severus recounted the events that had happened and that is when Severus knew he'd hate them forever just as their father before them.


	3. Maybe There Is Something

I would first of all like to thank _SweetieCherrie _for the wonderful review on this story and the idea for this chapter. So you may thank her for bringing this story back out for a chapter. And I must thank her for giving me another reason to stay up until 11:46 writing when I should really be in bed. I love doing that! Second of all I must tell you that Quirrell's first name in never mentioned . . . anywhere! So I trusted the Internet to give me the right name, so if it's wrong—it's the Internet's fault. Thanks and **PLEASE REVIEW**! Oh and BTW you gotta love how Snape's not sure whether to love or hate Harmony!

**Maybe There Is Something**

It was Halloween night and yet again Severus Snape was found in the Great Hall taking part in the Halloween feast. He looked up and down the staff table, where was Quirrell? Snape was just about to mention it to someone, when Quirrell came through the back door. His turban was askew and there was terror written all over his face. When he reached the High Table he simply said, "Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know." And fainted onto the floor.

Snape watched as the school went into uproar, but Dumbledore got them quiet with a few firecrackers from his wand. He told the prefects to lead their houses back to their dormitories immediately.

Severus then noticed Quirrell was gone and went straight to the third floor to head Quirrell off. Surely he wasn't stupid enough to try to go after it now and even if he was, he wouldn't get too far. He couldn't know everything yet. More than likely he was going to see what was there, but Severus wouldn't let that happen.

Snape opened the door and was met by a three-headed dog. It tried to eat him as soon as he opened the door! It bit his leg first and then Severus began backing away hexing it as he went. He shut the door; there was no way Quirrell could get past that in a hurry. He looked at his leg, it wasn't bleeding too badly. He was turning to leave when . . .

"Severus!" He heard and running up the hall was Minerva McGonagall. "Severus, what are you doing up here?"

"Looking for the troll, of course." Snape answered, hoping she'd buy his excuse.

"Y-y-you d-don't think it c-c-could have gotten all the w-w-way up here, S-S-Severus?" A stuttering voice answered him. It was Quirrell; he must have been headed up to check the Stone.

"Ah, Quirinus, why are you up here?" McGonagall asked.

"I-I-I saw you c-c-come up here a-a-and I wondered i-i-if it had anything to do w-w-with the t-t-troll." Quirrell answered. He was, of course, lying to Minerva about his reason, Severus knew that much.

"Well maybe we should look for it in a more productive place." Minerva suggested.

"Yes," Snape agreed.

There was no way Quirrell could stay up there without a legitimate reason, which he didn't have; so they all headed back down to the main floor. When they got there they heard a thud loud enough to shake the castle and all three of them broke into a run, it had come from the girl's bathroom.

When they arrived in the room they saw the troll knocked out on the floor. Quirrell faked scared and plopped down on a toilet seat clutching his heart. Unlike Quirrell, Snape leaned over the troll to make sure it would stay knocked out.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" Minerva said. If there was one thing she was good at, it was lecturing her students. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Snape shot the Potter boy a hard glance; leave it to him to get almost killed for glory. He was satisfied to see the boy's eyes drop to the floor.

"Please, Professor McGonagall – they were looking for me." It was the Granger girl.

"Miss Granger!" Minerva said. She was always saying how Granger was perfect and how she'd never do anything wrong, Minerva had just been proven wrong.

"I went looking for the troll because I – I though I could deal with it on my own – you know, because I've read all about them." The girl continued. "If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harmony pushed me out of the way . . . "

It took all of two seconds before the Potter boy was rambling.

"Harmony!" The boy said frantically looking toward the smashed sinks. "Professor my sister! She's-- she must be--"

Snape and McGonagall both understood at once, but Minerva was faster so Snape was forced to follow at her heels. Minerva quickly cleared the rubble and there was the crumpled form of Potter's sister.

Her eyes were closed and she was laying on her side. One arm was over her face the other laying bent not too far away. Her legs were bent together in a loose kneeling position. Her robe was covered in dust from the rubble and the back was flung out behind her. There were some cuts on her, but it looked as if no damage had been done to her head. It was a sad sight actually, to see Lily's replica so broken.

"Severus, help me." Minerva said motioning to the girl.

Severus obeyed not only because she'd asked him to, but because the sight of Lily's look-alike bent and broken like that was unbearable. It tore some kind of a hole in him to widen the hole Lily had left.

He knelt next to the girl and straightened her out to lie on her back with her arms to her sides and her legs straight. Then he checked to see if the girl had a pulse, praying the whole time that she was not dead. Her pulse was soft, but there, and her breathing was shallow. She'd live though. Severus let out a small sigh of relief that no one could hear.

"She's still alive," he finally announced softly for everyone else's benefit as he got up from the floor.

He felt the tension in the room lessen. Minerva collected herself and hurried the process along.

"Well then, we will deal with the rest of this quickly. Five points from you Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter you have earned five points each, I think that Miss Potter has earned ten points since she put her life on the line for another student. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. Potter we must take your sister to the Hospital Wing." She said in a hurry and then she turned to Snape. "Severus will you carry her?"

He knew the answer as soon as she asked the question. Potter was not up and speaking; so to him, she was no longer only Potter, she was Lily's replica and child and a student of Hogwarts nonetheless.

Severus bent over the girl's motionless form and scooped her into his arms, carrying her bridal style, her head rested softly on his chest. Carrying her this way made Severus realize how small and fragile this little eleven year old was. He could have wrapped his arms at least twice around her, maybe three, but Lily had been the same. Lily had been small and light, just like the girl he held in his arms.

Minerva carefully arranged the girl's arms in her lap then turned to the other three.

"Go back to your dormitory. And don't worry about Harmony. She'll be fine. You may see her tomorrow. Come Severus."

They left Quirrell to deal with the troll.

When they arrived at the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey forgot everyone else and started tending only to the girl. Dumbledore arrived not fifteen minutes later. They were all silent as they watched the skilled nurse tend to her patient. When Poppy stood up, she broke the silence.

"What happened to her?"

"She was the only one of four students who was injured while they faced a fully grown mountain troll." Minerva said.

"And she survived!" Poppy exclaimed.

"Yes, very remarkable." The Headmaster said.

"But of course she went looking for trouble, just like her father." Severus felt the words tumble out of his mouth. His pity for the girl had disappeared when he heard Poppy, Dumbledore, and Minerva begin to marvel over her.

"Severus," Dumbledore began calmly. "You mustn't judge her. From what I've seen she's more like Lily than you assume. You must give her a chance. With the troll, she went looking for it to save Hermione Granger, not for her own benefit."

How dare he compare her to Lily! She was nothing like her! She was just like her arrogant father! Severus felt rage fill his body faster than he could mask it.

"The Granger girl could be lying! How would any of us know?" It had come out louder than Severus expected.

That's enough, Severus. We must be careful or she will hear us and not be able to get the rest she so well deserves." Dumbledore said gently, watching the girl with eyes that leaked pity.

How could he pity her after she'd clearly gone looking for the troll for glory! Just like her brother! Just like her father! Snape bit his tongue; he knew Dumbledore would hear no more of his complaints.

"It's late and we all need rest." Minerva said.

"You're right Minerva." Dumbledore said.

Snape and Minerva walked to the door with Poppy who let them out. Snape bid Minerva goodnight when the door had shut behind them then stormed off to his chambers.

How could anyone think she was innocent? She clearly was looking for glory! She . . . but wait hadn't less than an hour ago he felt pity for the girl? Hadn't he checked her pulse and breathing worried for her life? No, he was worried for the sake that she looked like Lily. That was the only reason. Or was it? Severus shook his head to clear his thoughts.

She was just like her father! There was no other way she could be! He hated her just like he hated her father and her brother. Maybe even more because she looked like Lily, but acted like Potter!

Severus went to bed thoroughly convinced that he hated Harmony Potter, but during the night he found himself waking up almost every hour thinking that maybe he should go check the hospital wing to make sure she was all right.


End file.
